"You know, people sure are passionate about Gundam." Akira remarked on the amount of people taking pictures and going to the nearest G-base, which is a limited official store for Gundam merchandise and products. "I kind of get it; I just can't be bothered to dig deeper and feel a bit guilty."

"Nothing wrong with that, isn't it?" Hachiman nonchalantly said. "Even among Gundam fans, their interest isn't necessarily of the same scale or intensity. Some people consume everything Gundam; some people stick to certain eras, some people stick to certain seasons; some don't care about the anime, setting, or characters, and just here for the robots."

"What about you, Hachiman?" She asked.

We're on a first name basis now? He wondered. Since when?

This girl is certainly a bit whimsical. But Hachiman had long resigned to the fact that women are unpredictable creatures.

"I'm just a casual fan. I watch anime that airs and buy robots I like. I have a lot of Gundam knowledge, but it's nothing compared to Gundam Otaku." Hachiman responded.

Hachiman won't even tell Akira that half his Gunpla were bootlegs. He's still too embarrassed to talk openly about it, but he wouldn't deny it if anyone asked.

Speaking of Gunpla, it refers to Gundam Plastic model. That is, a plastic model built using Gundam franchise as a reference. Most of them are in the form of humanoid robots, but there are vehicles or even human characters.

"Hey! Hachiman!" Someone shouted at him.

"Oh." Hachiman's smile disappeared. "You're here."

"Pfft, bastard. That's not how you treat your friends, innit?" The one who stood was a tall, slightly overweight-looking boy with long and unkempt gray hair. Nevertheless, his youthful face shows that he should be around high school age.

Who?

Joke aside, Hachiman was astounded he's here.

"Truthfully, I'm still mad at you. But you know what? You were right at the time." The boy grinned as he handed Hachiman a Gunpla box. "And This Majesty is here to prove you're wrong."

Hachiman received the box and opened it.

"Whoa." Akira gasped. "So cool. This one is supposed to be a Police robot, right?"

The boy suddenly stepped away.

"Erm, Hachiman, who is this?"

"The one you made the machine for." Hachiman deadpanned as he introduced the girl beside him. "Sunazuka Akira."

"SHIIIT!" The boy screamed in anguish. "When you said sweaty FPS gamer named Akira, I thought it was a guy! If I knew, I'd make it slightly cuter!"

"Sweaty gamer?" Akira popped a vein, feeling insulted. Somehow, she missed the fact that she was mistaken for a guy. Though, in fairness, Akira is a very masculine name.

"Am I wrong, though?" Hachiman teased her, but she pinched him in response.

"When Hachiman said he's preparing machines, I thought he made it himself." Akira switched her attention to the tall boy. "My name is Sunazuka Akira; nice to meet you!"

"This Majesty is Zaimokuza Yoshiteru, the fated reincarnation of..."

"Brake it, Zaimokuza." Hachiman said. "Save it for later."

"Aw." Zaimokuza pouted.

"Are you going to say you're the reincarnation of Ashikaga Yoshiteru?" Akira sweetly laughed.

"You're absolutely right!" Zaimokuza gracefully bowed. "Unlike this disloyal retainer here, you seem to know your history, Milady!"

Oh, man. Of course, she'll indulge his delusion. After all, this is a girl who was able to weather Hachiman's own brand of stupidity and abrasion.

"Let us test the Gunpla first, then talk about reimbursement." Hachiman decided to switch to different topics. "Let's go."

"Eh? Reimbursement? I have no plan accepting that." Zaimokuza was agape, feeling awkward accepting money from those he perceived as friends.

"I insist." Akira smiled. "Consider this your first Gunpla commission."

CHAPTER 2 - OFFLINE MEETING, PART 2

"That was perfect." Akira said as she pulled the Gunpla from the scanner unit. "It really was made for me!"

"You can thank Hachiman for that." Zaimokuza handed out a seemingly plain-looking notebook. "He was extremely thorough at describing your fighting style."

Akira was about to receive the book, but Hachiman yanked it.

"Why?!" Akira yelled; she wanted to see what Hachiman wrote about her.

"Client confidentiality." Hachiman curtly told her as he put it in his bag. "But at least know that the time we spent partnering online wasn't for nothing."

Hachiman wanted to say that he understood her enough to order a tailor-made machine for her.

"So about reimbursement, how many hours did you spend working on this?" Akira asked. "Do you have a bank account? If yes, I will transfer the money. If not, I'll give you the cash."

"Ah, about that, I'm not entirely sure." Zaimokuza responded. "Outside design concept, maybe 36 hours of assembly and painting."

Akira told him. "Thirty six hours? That's shorter than I've guessed."

36 hours for a High Grade is hardly short, though that depends on how much you customize it. Although Zaimokuza didn't alter the internal parts, the external parts had been transformed into something very different.

"It could be longer, but I'm still an unskilled builder, so the custom weapons are made from 1/12 scale human weapons." Zaimokuza looks embarrassed. "Please don't give me a full rate. I did a lot of shortcuts here."

"He did say he excluded the design phase, after all." Hachiman agreed. "Zaimokuza, don't short-charge yourself."

Zaimokuza huffed. "As if! Might as well bill her for your notes!"

Akira looked at Hachiman, who crossed his wrist in absolute refusal. He might be a cheapskate, but on this one he would absolutely refuse a payment.

"What about material bills?"

"Oh. Here's the bill compilation. Feel free to double-check." Zaimokuza handed her a small note with multiple bills strapped on them.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm." Akira ran a calculation in her head, then rummaged her bag for an envelope. "Is this much fine?"

As she asked this, Zaimokuza eyed the envelope and almost coughed blood. "SO MANY!"

"Well, I'm going to assume 1200 yen per hour rate. I hope that's not too little." Akira blushed and grinned.

"Absolutely not." Zaimokuza nodded furiously. "You even gave me a couple extra. Let's use this to have a modest meal at the family restaurant of your choice! My treat!"

Hachiman was about to say Saizeriya, purely on reflex. But since his money wasn't involved, he decided to shut up. Also, Komachi absolutely forbade him to bring a girl to Saizeriya, so...

Hachiman assumed that Zaimokuza was given about 50,000 yen for his hard work, which is quite a handsome pay for their first commission ever. Whether it's the material or paint used to make a custom Gunpla, they're not that expensive. Especially at 1/144 scale, normal mobile suits.

Hachiman guessed that the 'shortcut' Zaimokuza took cost quite a lot, though. Scale weapons in particular tend to be expensive.

Nevertheless, Akira must be someone rich, or at least earns a lot for her age. How many high school students can nonchalantly commission a 50,000 yen Gunpla like that? Most of them can barely afford primer*.

"I don't know; how about you decide for us?" Akira said. "This is to celebrate your first commission, after all."

"Right. Is Gusto fine? I'm in the mood for a Salisbury steak!" Zaimokuza said. "But I'm concerned that Sunazuka-sama would be bothered by the atmosphere."

"Oh, come on, I'm not some born princess or a CEO daughter. Of course, any restaurant is fine by me." Akira looked at Hachiman. "What do you think, Hachiman?"

"I'm fine in one way or another." Hachiman responded. "If you want to eat meat at Gusto, let's go to Steak Gusto, since there would be fewer screaming children."

"Steak Gusto, it is!" Zaimokuza decided.

Even if it cost them 10,000 yen to eat together, Zaimokuza wouldn't cry. Of course, Steak Gusto is cheaper than that. Most of the menu entrées cost 1000–2000 yen.

It's higher than most family restaurants, yet still lower than the vast majority of bona fide restaurants. Hachiman already considered how to balance the cost and enjoyment in his head.

"You two sure are close friends." Akira grinned. "How was Hachiman like at school?"

"Friendless loser." Hachiman curtly responded before Zaimokuza could say anything.

"... He's rather aloof and didn't stand out. That's why not many people pay attention to him. I don't think anyone hated him in particular, though."

Eh, Zaimokuza can talk like a normal human being.

That was the part that shocked Hachiman so much; he froze on the spot.

"As for me, though, people think I'm a little too loud sometimes. So a lot of people dislike me!" Zaimokuza pointed himself. "Hachiman was, for a long time, the only person willing to hear my whims."

"His response can be harsh, but I like that Hachiman never lied about what he thought. Like when I try writing my own original novel, and he gives me honest feedback."

"Not really; girls always treated me like a walking plague for some reason." Hachiman refuted. "I always feel it was unfair, but what can I do? I didn't even know what I did wrong, and honestly? I don't care."

Akira was honestly speechless.

To be honest, Hachiman felt a bit guilty. He might not often lie openly, and when he does openly lie, he absolutely stinks at it. But Hachiman is a master of lying by omission.

Sometimes he wondered if Akira looked at him too positively, despite everything he told her. Because he himself wasn't sure if he presented himself objectively.

But shaking that feeling aside, he was sure of something. Hachiman always felt more open talking with some random person online than he did with someone he knew in real life. So he felt that he lied to Akira a lot less than he did to people around him.

"I think I know Hachiman's problem." Akira concluded. "Isn't it your posture?"

Posture?

"You always slouch when you're annoyed or embarrassed. That's why people can't see that you have an athletic physique." Akira pointed. "With me around, you always stand straight. That's why some girls are stealing glances."

Hachiman looked at Zaimokuza as if Akira was crazy.

"I think she was right. You don't slouch today." Zaimokuza commented. "Plus, your fashion wasn't bad. I'm sure the Soubu girls will think differently if they see you today."

Did Hachiman subconsciously try to show off in front of her? Now that she pointed this out, Hachiman's heart began to race. And because of this, his back started to bend again, causing him to slouch. Not to mention his scrunched, twitching face.

"... Okay, now I see why they call you gross." Akira winced. "Stop doing that."

"Shut the fuck up." Hachiman chided, red-faced.

Is posture such an important thing for a person's image?!

Their lunch soon came just like they ordered. Akira ordered a serving of tender cuts with grilled chicken and frankfurter; Hachiman ordered cheese-in-burger with grilled chicken and frankfurter; and Zaimokuza went for the double coarse-grind burger serving.

During the main course, they didn't talk much about Hachiman. Instead, they talked about Gundam and Akira's very limited experience with it. How she was barely able to finish a couple of episodes per anime and hadn't found anything she truly enjoyed enough to commit to.

And Akira dislikes reading, so manga is out of her reach either.

"Following Hachiman's suggestion, I did finish the Journey to Jaburo on the old PS2. So I kind of get the gist of the setting a bit, but it's only getting bigger from there, isn't it?"

"I would actually suggest you watch the compilation movies." Zaimokuza told Akira. "Three films are no joke, but better than trying to watch the whole season of the original 1979 anime. Once you watch the trilogy, you basically get everything you need to know about the original Gundam."

It might sound like heresy for the UC purist, but for most casual fans, getting into the setting is daunting. Having to watch an anime this old, while graphically astounding for the time, is taxing for someone who didn't watch an anime at all.
After that, it was time for them to separate.

"Erm, let me think. I'm sure I saw you somewhere on an acquaintance's phone." Zaimokuza struggled to remember. "I'm pretty sure it was a Stargram account. Are you famous? I only follow cosplayers on Stargram, so I wasn't sure."

"Happy to hear you know me." Akira laughed. "Let us exchange numbers."

Double standard, hey.

"I will see your match on the net. Good luck." Zaimokuza saluted as soon as they had finished exchanging numbers.

"He might be loud and a bit unhinged, but he seems like a humble and nice guy." Akira remarked. "Even his advice sounds like what you said to me before."

"That he is." Hachiman scoffed. "He might look like he's friendless, but girls often prattle on him because Zaimokuza is a good listener when he's not rambling his ass out. Too bad, he's a little gynophobic."

"I think guys hated him for that, and that's why he sought me in desperation. Zaimokuza doesn't have male friends, and I'm the closest he had to have one."

"I think you valued yourself too little." Akira wore her mask and glasses again before smacking his back to make him stop slouching. "I'm pretty sure he enjoyed the time spent with you, just like I did."

Hikigaya Hachiman really valued himself too little. His twisted sense of humility is both charming and sad.

...

"[Welcome to the second Japan Gunpla Battle Festa. The second ever national-scale Gunpla battle tournament to be held in Japan. Today's tournament will be the finale of U-18, comprising 64 teams. The preliminary selection took place in December last year through very robust online matches.]"

Hachiman and Akira both walked inside wearing their team uniform, a thin summer coat with RE-Zephyrus emblazoned on their backs. Hachiman didn't lack in disguise, with long bluish gray hair over his head and yellow polarized glasses.

He looked so ridiculous that no one would recognize him in that state.

Of course, he wasn't the only one in ridiculous get-ups. In fact, almost half the players wore costumes or heavy makeup. Not just to disguise themselves, but to show their love and passion. Some people outright cosplayed as Gundam characters.

If anything, Hachiman's disguise looks downright conservative. And Akira looked downright normal.

"Team RE-Zephyrus. Sage823 from Chiba and A_Spark73 from Niigata." Akira showed her invitation and ID to the reception.

While personal attendance was required to get into the finals of the tournament, they don't necessarily disclose their information in public. Indeed, a lot of these people in cosplay—some of them are famous gamers, streamers, or e-sport athletes.

Presumably, Akira herself is semi-famous. Hachiman doubts it was just ego talking, if someone like Zaimokuza had seen her at a glance.

"So... you never checked Stargram?"

"Nope. Not Pweeter either. I had an account that I occasionally logged in to but don't do much with." Hachiman replied. "My online existence is my game account and a single OurTube account."

"Please don't take this as an insult. I have never seen someone whose internet footprint is this clean." Akira laughed. "I know you told me about it; still hard to believe until I saw you firsthand."

"All the better for my safety." He joked. "I told you before, I'm more of a book person. I'm not really active online, so to speak, if you discount me playing mobage in middle school. I only started playing online multiplayer in high school. That's when I met you last year."

For someone born after the year 2000, Hikigaya Hachiman doesn't just have an uncommon upbringing. He was a bona fide anomaly.

Akira had many friends, online and IRL, and she doesn't have a single friend that wasn't active online in middle school, as far as online gaming or social media concerned.

And this is not her being biased due to her job, and interest; she had a lot of friends entirely unrelated to competitive gaming or content creation. They're just normal teenagers with an active social life, yet still have some online presence.

Compared to that, playing mobage means you're basically buried in a part of the deep web. Completely inaccessible from the internet at large.

"You sound like someone who was born in the 90s Japan, instead of the 21st century." Akira nodded.

"Honestly, I'm glad I was born 15 years late." Hachiman said. "If I was born a bit earlier, internet forums will consume my entire well-being."

Hachiman loved online anonymity. The idea of talking with someone through forums appeals to him. However, compared to the early 2000s, forums in the 2020s are just a husk of what they were. Not as populated, not as active. Even fully anonymous image boards weren't as rapid as before.

Social media is the opposite of a forum. It encourages you to embellish your real life and expose it for the world to see. Hachiman dislikes that. It takes months for Akira to pry anything from him before finally learning his real name.

Akira couldn't exactly say she disliked the idea of forums, but she didn't have interest in them the way Hachiman did. Even though they were the same age, it was like they're one generation apart.

Being reminded of this fact made Akira remember why she was interested in him in the first place.

Like a forbidden fruit.

"If you were born 15 years earlier, we will never meet like this." She winked.

Hachiman ignored her, and they went for the competition console. It was nothing more than a gaming PC with a monitor, one VR headset, and a double joystick controller.

"12th match, team RE-Zephyrus versus team Atelier Matilda!"

"[Please, set your Gunpla.]"

The first generation Gunpla scanner was rudimentary and only worked with the standard 1/144 scale humanoid-type mobile suit. However, the second generation Gunpla scanner had reached near perfection, being able to scan even the largest Gunpla in existence, the 1/12 HY2M RX-78 and Zaku II.

For the record, this model is 150 cm, or five feet tall. Almost the size of average Japanese women. And it cost over 500,000 yen brand new. Basically, anyone using THOSE in Gunpla battle has penis insecurity, more money than sense, or both.

Akira looked at her new Gunpla, which made faithfully to her style. She smiled and put it on the scanner, and then put on the VR headset.

"What was your name again? Ah, right." Akira smiled. "Riot Armor GM Quell, take-off!"

For those who know deeply about Gundam series, they would be familiar with the GM Quell. Although it came from a side story OVA and supplementary materials, their design and presence made them quite famous.

As a villain mobile suit, a tool of the Titans' oppression.

Akira's GM Quell is substantially different from the original, in that it was equipped with additional armor plates, sensors, and weapons. Nevertheless, the additional engines all over the body made it fast and agile, albeit hard to control.

However, she was a skilled gamer. She skillfully skated around the buildings while dodging gunfire

People who watched her play could easily tell that she wasn't a Gundam gamer at all. She used a lot of covers and a methodical approach, shooting from behind barriers and blind spots.

This is the habit of an FPS player. They know they're fragile and easily overwhelmed by enemy firepower. The key to winning is to find a proverbial high ground.

Even her weapons reflect this, using a submachine gun as a primary weapon with a grenade launcher as support. But Akira was having a blast. It feels like she was on her own turf.

"[Covers are no use!]"

A voice boomed as a massive beam of light carved through the buildings, forcing Akira to duck. In the smoky and dusty aftermath, Akira used her enhanced sensor to check a rounded-looking machine with a gaping hole in the center.

"Apsalus?" Akira noticed the reading. "It has the power to melt a mountain. I see..."

It was like almost half the city stage vaporized.

"[Don't be scared. Although the beam is powerful, the focus is horrible. Your shield can resist it at least once.]" Hachiman told her through the team communication. "[However, since we're in 64 best, don't expect the enemy pilots to be weak and unskilled. It must have a lot of defensive weapons. Approach carefully!]"

"Alright. I believe you!" Akira smiled.

Noticing a pair of mobile suits in her pursuit, Akira used the grenade launcher pods to spread a heavy amount of smoke. Combined with the dust left by Apsalus attack, her unit practically disappeared.

"[Be careful! She must be somewhere here!]"

"[Dodge!]"

Gunfire raged, and the enemy group was distracted by the seemingly random attacks.

"[She could see through the smoke!]"

"[Get away. I'll flatten the entire city, so there would be nowhere to hide!]"

The custom Apsalus opened a bunch of ports around its main cannon and delivered a barrage of smaller beams at a rate that could rival a machine gun. This is a weapon that was missing in the canon Apsalus, showing how much care was given to this custom model.

Unfortunately, there were no signs of Akira being hit at all. Her Riot Armor GM had completely vanished without trace, leaving a ruined city and confused enemies.

"[Speaking of which... where's her friend-]"

The Apsalus exploded when something struck it. It was neither a laser nor a beam. It was a hypervelocity bullet.

"[What was that?!]"

More than ten kilometers away, on the opposing hill beside the flattened city, Akira's GM Quell kneeled with a giant rifle in its hand. The rifle kept firing and had enough power to break through the Apsalus' heavy armor, damaging it.

"[Oh crap!]"

The Apsalus fired its main cannon in response, but somehow the mountain-melting beam was split before it could hit the hilly area, carving two giant trenches beside the hill itself. A counterattacking beam pierced through the Apsalus, finally taking it for real. The spherical mobile armor fell helplessly before exploding in a nuclear explosion.

"[It was 3 vs. 2 before.]" Hachiman's unit hovered above the hill. A strange, almost dragonlike mobile suit that Gundam fans would recognize as Zeonic MSN-04 II Nightingale.

It had been modified extensively, losing its signature wing boosters in exchange for more conventional cylindrical fuel tanks and rockets. The rifle is substantially larger, which was likely taken from 1/100 scale, and the source of its ginormous firepower. Demonstrated by splitting Apsalus beam.

"[Now we're even]"

It was not, in fact, an even match.

*A primer is used on bare plastic to make painting smoother and even. The same terms are used for makeup, apparently.